Use templates to take notes systematically - Engaging sources - Writing your paper

Student's guide to writing college papers, Fourth edition - Kate L. Turabian 2010

Use templates to take notes systematically
Engaging sources
Writing your paper

There are two ways to record the information in sources: some researchers photocopy or download everything that might be useful; others do that only for very long passages and write or type out the rest.

If you just copy everything, you'll save some trouble and reduce your chance of misquoting. But many researchers find that they do not read as carefully or engage a source as fully when they rely only on copies. So if you copy or download, be sure to add to your photocopy all the other kinds of notes we recommend: keywords, summaries, responses, questions, how it supports or complicates your argument, and so on.

If you write out most of your notes, you'll force yourself to engage your sources more carefully, and you'll often get ideas while writing that would not come to you just by reading. But you'll risk mechanical errors in transcribing a quotation. So if you write out notes, create a template that helps you record information accurately, that clearly distinguishes your words from those of the source, and that encourages you to analyze and organize your notes into useful categories.

Some instructors still suggest taking notes in longhand on 3 × 5 cards, as in figure 5.1. That may seem old-fashioned, but it is a template for efficient note-taking, even if you take notes on a laptop.

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Here is a plan for a template on your laptop (start a new page for each general idea or claim that you record from a source).

✵ At the top of each page, create slots for author, short title, page number.

✵ Make another space at the top for keywords (see upper right above). Those words let you sort and resort your notes by content (see 5.3.3).

✵ Create two boxes with labels for different kinds of notes: one for summary and paraphrase and one for exact quotations. (For more on summary, paraphrase, and quotation, see chapter 9.)

✵ Create a third space for your reactions, questions, and further ideas. Have a section headed “How this supports my argument” and another “How this complicates my argument.” This space will encourage you to do more than simply record what you read.

✵ This is important: When you quote a source, record its words in a distinctive color or font so that you can recognize quotations at a glance; enclose them in large quotation marks as well. If you mistake the words of others for your own, you invite a charge of plagiarism.

✵ This is also important: When you paraphrase a passage, record the para-phrase in a distinctive color or font so that you cannot mistake it for a quotation or for your own ideas; enclose it in curly brackets. If you mistake the ideas of others for your own, you invite a charge of plagiarism.

Finally, never assume that you can use what you find online without citing its source, even if it's free and publicly available. Nothing releases you from the duty to acknowledge your use of anything you did not personally create yourself. (For more on plagiarism, see chapter 10.)

CAUTION

Quote Freely in Your Notes

If you don't record important words now, you can't quote them later. When in doubt, copy or photocopy passages so that you'll have what you need if you decide to quote them in your paper. You should have many more quotations in your notes than in your paper.